Newsletter #283 2024 Nov 08 Friday
Monday through Wednesday were about getting the first five pigs to the butcher; since then it's been about old friends, hunting and comradery.
Primal Woods
Fall brings its own wonders, a mushroom new to me being just one example. The Shaggy Mane is also know as “lawyer’s wig” and “shaggy ink cap.”
The gills beneath the cap are white, then pink, then turn black and deliquesce ('melt') into a black liquid filled with spores (hence the "ink cap" name). This mushroom is unusual because it will turn black and dissolve itself in a matter of hours after being picked or depositing spores.
In the photo above you can actually see some of the “ink” on the leaf litter just below the mushroom. Put this one in the #whodathunkit file.
Pure Maple Syrup
What has that picture to do with Pure Maple Syrup you might ask? Well, maybe something, maybe nothing, but some time and experimentation will tell. Those are Jalapeno peppers from Geri’s garden, seeded and sliced for drying in the dehydrator. Last year we experimented with vanilla bean in our Pure Maple Syrup (we are making the final decision on labeling for that product now), and this year’s experiment will be Jalapeno-infused syrup! We’ll keep you posted; I do not know what to expect of this flavor combination, but I’m excited to find out.
Homestead Rebel Farm
It was a big week for pigs, as the first five went to the butcher. And, aside from a tire that didn’t want to stay inflated, delivery of pigs to the butcher was without major trouble.
I had just hooked up the trailer and pulled it out the field, when I pulled up in front of Pat’s house and workshop to make sure all was well for the trip home. It wasn’t. The back left tire on the trailer was completely flat. Fortunately with a quick call to Pat I was able to access his workshop and use the air compressor to inflate the tire. Made it home safely, and set up the trailer later Monday afternoon.
I fed the pigs in the trailer Monday/Tuesday, and Wednesday early; having removed the pig feeder from their enclosure.
That just left Wednesday morning; loading and hooking up the trailer, inflating the uncooperative tire, and making my way to the butcher.
After making the trip without incident, it was a simple matter of backing up the trailer and offloading the pigs. It’s always a bitter-sweet moment, I have to say, watching the pigs go.
Five down, three to go. Let me know if you are interested in a January pig. Based on the hanging weights of the November pigs, I’ll make a decision as to the butcher date for the “January” pigs.
Toby is finally walking again; he’s got a bit of a hitch in his giddyup, but hopefully he’ll make a full recovery. Eating again, but he is way, way underweight compared to Tilly. Still on meds for pain and inflammation. Pretty much symptomatic of the human population of the United States, which says nothing good about the situation.
Farmhouse
Our guests Gary and Tim, old and dear friends of mine from high school days, made the trip out for some White Tail hunting and fellowship. They are in tree stands as I write; I’m trying to get this Newsletter in the can before getting to some hunting myself yet this weekend.
Geri has been feeding us well.
Beef, it’s what’s for dinner.
News
In what will likely be for us the biggest benefit flowing out of the regime change we have this…
I've been contacted by the Trump transition team to hold some sort of position within the USDA and have accepted one of the six "Advisor to the Secretary" spots. My favorite congressman, Thomas Massie from Kentucky, has agreed to go in as Secretary of Agriculture.
He's been the sponsor of the PRIME ACT, which, if pushed through, would be the biggest shot across the bow of the entrenched industrial meat processing system we've seen in a century. Let liberty ring. Wouldn't that be a change of fortune for Big Ag?
If Salatin and Massie have anything to say about it, and it seems they will, small scale farmers like us will be freed from a lot of useless regulation, and hopefully will not have to compete with the heavily subsidized shit-food producers.
Add to that RFK Jr’s objectives:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr on X: "President Trump has asked me to do three things:
1. Clean up the corruption in our government health agencies.
2. Return those agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science.
3. Make America Healthy Again by ending the chronic disease epidemic.
Two things, true agrarian culture, and health, fit hand in glove. If RFK Jr. is successful in cleaning up FDA, CDC etc., it will be a major win for everyone. All of these agencies just mentioned, USDA (US Duh as Salatin calls it), FDA and CDC, have been captured by the monied industries they are supposed to be regulating (Big Ag and Big Pharma); the industries instead are actually writing the regulations, which then serve of course to protect said industries from competition. It’s a game as old as regulation itself.
I forgot this last week, but it’s a great interview of RFK Jr.’s former campaign manager; a very, very sharp woman. And, starting about 50 minutes in she talks about Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP), and why we haven’t done anything to protect the citizenry from its effects. Let’s put it this way, because as a nation we are totally unprepared for EMP, it and its knock-on effects, are thē worst-case scenario for preppers such as me.
Books and Such
I’ve been making progress through Boone, a biography of Daniel Boone. Probably now 4/5ths of the way through. Boone is past his prime in the book, and ill-suited to the tasks he is taking on in his 50’s. As you might imagine, it’s not going to end well.
And finally, a movie, or perhaps “docudrama” is a better description. This is about the deception at the highest levels of government that led us into the 2003 Iraq war to take down Saddam. But, this is the British side of the story, starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes; Official Secrets.
All the best, and may God bless you and yours,
John & Geri
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All the best, and may God bless you and yours,
John & Geri
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A government that actually supports small, local, healthy farms over industrial scale agriculture would be a great thing, as somebody like Joel Salatin would counsel, I wish him success in the position. My fear though, I don't see the incoming admin actually doing that - a man whose only goal is to enrich himself and his closest allies won't have any incentive to make things better for the average and small market participant. More likely is they will disrupt the global trade markets and crash the ag economy here and then bail out the corporate farmers and continue adding to the national debt...just like they did last time.